I can only speak for myself, but when summer rolls around I’m painfully more aware of the fact that I have yet to find a workout routine and diet plan that I can be consistent with. I was always envious of those celebrities with their full time trainers and chefs, until I realized that I didn’t have to be a celebrity to enlist the help of a professional. This is exactly what I did when I got together with celebrity trainer Juliet Kaska to get some fitness and wellness tips to share with you lovely readers.

Crunches

Ms. Kaska’s career began shortly after she hired a trainer for herself and saw the complete transformation hard work could conjure. She became a certified trainer first through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and later through the American Council on Exercise. After her certifications, she taught Pilates and Dharma Yoga; all of this experience prepared her for her first celebrity clients. Her clients prefer her to exercise discretion in addition to all of her tried and true routines, so mum is the word on name dropping her elite clientele; but she can say that her celebrity client list developed when she began working with cast members from the FOX hit television show The OC, and numerous contestants on Dancing With the Stars.

Dips

The lovely Ms. Kasksa, a petite brunette with a Tinker Bell physique, decided to sit down with me and shed some light on the best way to achieve and maintain a healthy body for our demanding summer commitments and beyond. The first thing to remember about exercise is to keep it interesting. Whether you’re running the stairs of your fabulous 3 story Hollywood Hills mansion, taking a tango class, a kick-boxing lesson, signing up for Karate, or joining an intramural dodge ball group; making an exercise routine fun can be half the battle.

Plank

Cardio and weight training are very important components of an exercise routine, because cardio burns the fat and weight training builds lean muscle that helps invigorate the metabolism. Some people let their lack of gym membership deter them from getting active, but the truth is that you don’t need any equipment to get a good work out in. According to the fitness guru du jour, “Working out with no equipment and no gym is the easiest thing in the exercise world to accomplish. Between readily available DVDs, YouTube videos, www.ExerciseTV.TV, and downloading a workout application for your smart phone there is no excuse not to have a workout at your fingertips.” She even shared with me a work out so simple and devoid of equipment and technology that even a cave-man could do it:

Juliet’s Simple, Yet Effective Workout:

4 sets of 100 jumping jacks interspersed between the following exercises:

3 sets of 10-20 pushups

3 sets of 10-20 dips

3 sets of 30second to 1 min plank holds

4 sets of 25 crunches

2 sets of 25 crunches to the side (total 50 per side)

2 sets of 50 lunges per leg (total 100 per leg)

3 sets of 20 squats

Push-ups

The hardest part of health and exercise is getting started, but sometimes even harder than that is keeping the momentum and maintaining the routine. Ms. Kaska shared that so many people get overly confident when they achieve their weight loss goals, become complacent, and end up gaining the weight back, sometimes with interest! Ms. Kaska divulges that the key to maintenance especially when it comes to diet is gradual change, weaning yourself off of high caloric habits slowly so that you can establish a realistic routine that will actually last. When it comes to maintaining results due to exercise, rapid change is the better solution; changing your exercise routine at least every twelve weeks avoids the effects of ‘plateau-ing’ which, let’s face it, can really put a damper on anyone’s will to be fit.

Lunges

So far I’m hoping everyone is now motivated enough to don their Lululemon athletic wear and grab their Nalgene water bottles in preparation for some serious caloric arson, but we have only covered one side of health; the physical side. Fitness is important but it is only skin deep, Ms. Kaska dedicates herself to achieving wellness for her clients as well, the mental aspect of a person’s health. She shares that the attitude one has toward their workout, diet, and overall fitness plan has a huge influence on how effective it will be. The two tips she gave me to feeling good about your fitness routine are to ditch the standby basketball shorts and oversized t-shirt for workout ensembles that look good and make you feel good about yourself, and to allow yourself one rewarding splurge day a week to give yourself a break from dieting. Following these simple tips will allow your fitness routine to feel a lot less like a chore and much more like something you can accomplish every day.

Squats

Ms. Kaska and her JK Zen Fitness team are located in the Los Angeles/ West Hollywood area. Just a few months ago, Juliet and her fitness team partnered with ACTIVATE Drinks to bring an opportunity for the West Hollywood community to attend free ACTIVATED fitness classes at the Boulevard Health Club. According to Ms. Kaska, everyone who attended had a blast, “They got a unique blend of Pilates, Yoga, and high-intensity circuit training; while laughing hysterically. It was truly a COMPLETE workout…I loved teaching that class!” ACTIVATE is a unique vitamin water energy drink that is transformed when the cap is twisted and vitamins and subtly natural flavors are released into the reverse osmosis water. They come in varieties like Exotic Berry, Fruit Punch, and Passion Fruit, but have absolutely no calories or sugar. ACTIVATE has recently been reformulated. The new and improved ACTIVATE beverages offer enhanced taste, balanced vitamin content for optimal performance, non-genetically modified ingredients, and the ability to customize the beverage that best matches fitness goals. Ms. Kaska encourages her clients to drink ACTIVATE because it enhances vitamin intake while hydrating, replenishing electrolytes and avoids needless calories. For more information on the uniquely delicious ACTIVATE beverages visit www.activatedrinks.com, and for more information on Ms. Juliet Kaska visit www.jkzenfitness.com. It’s never too late, let’s go get active!

ACTIVATE Beverages offer a concentrated range of vitamins for a variety of health and fitness needs